Study Tips for Students

Every student knows the importance of studying. However at times studying can be tedious and boring. Studying is not usually a favorite past time of most students, although there are those who enjoy it. It is however a necessary part of academic life whether you are in elementary school, high school or university. Studying is the key to success. Every student knows this but with all the enticements and entertainment available studying can easily fall by the wayside and for most of us that means failure. Studying is therefore something that students must find the discipline to do.

     The first and most practical thing to do is to create a timetable with reasonable amounts of break time. This time table should then be placed in a conspicuous location in your room or wherever you choose to study. It requires a great deal of discipline to follow a time table. The good news is that if you manage to stick it out for thirty days it will be smooth ailing from there. Researchers have found that anything you can do consistently for thirty days will most likely become a habit.

To increase your chances of remembering the important points you need to study, you might want to consider recording your notes on your mobile phone, computer or tape. This might work better for some students, rather than sitting and trying to get the information from the note or textbook to sink in.

     A very old method of studying is to write information on cards and to study from those. These come in handy also if you get someone else to quiz you as they can ask you questions from the cards.

     Try the SQ3R method. This system has been in use since the 1960's and works well especially for social studies and science. The SQ3R method involves surveying, questioning, reading, reciting and reviewing while reading textbooks. Here is an overview of the method:

1. Survey--Look at the all the headings. These will give you clues about the major points that will be developed. Read the introduction. Pay attention to maps, graphs, tables or pictures.

2. Question--Create questions that you think may be answered once you've read the passage. You can formulate your questions from the heading and subheading in the book.

3. Read--Read the material bearing in mind the questions you have created. You should be attempting to answer your questions while reading.

4. Recite--Without looking at the book recite the answers to the questions you have answered.

5. Review--Take a look at all the heading and all the questions you have written and their answers. Read portions of the passage again to make sure your answers are correct. This will help you to retain what you have studied.

     Finally, try forming a study group. Study groups can be good and they can be bad depending on who is in them and their attitude towards work. If you're going to get a group of people together to study with make sure they understand the value of time and are not people who will do everything else but study.